As a result of the influx of people into Haaland, five primary schools have been expanded this year. With the enrollment of a large number of students, thousands of school-age children have been tested for magical qualifications in the past ten years, and in the last two years, a total of eleven children have been tested for magical qualifications.

Now the total population of the Harland Territory is more than 500,000, and there should be more than 5,000 people who can meditate, but it is a pity that the Haaland Territory Mage Association, counting the reserve members, adds up to less than 100 people. More than ninety-eight percent of the talents have no opportunity to practice meditation, and the pearl is covered with dust.

But with the reality of Haaland's territory, there is simply no ability to test the qualifications of the entire population, and there is no educational resources for them to practice meditation. There is now only one magic crystal ball in Haaland's territory, and only three mid-level magicians, Sophia, Wendy, and Richard, can use the magic crystal ball to test their qualifications, and only new children can be tested every year, and the number is less than a thousand.

A mid-level magician can use a crystal ball to test up to fifty or sixty people a day, and a thousand children need Sophia's three people to take turns for seven or eight days to complete the qualification test. As more students enroll, so will the pressures of this work.

Among the eleven children was a moderately qualified apprentice, Dilson. Medium-qualified apprentices can grow up step by step, and before the age of forty, they can basically be promoted to the four-ring magician, and become the backbone of a magical organization.

For so many years since the establishment of the Harland Territory Mage Association, it has only discovered three medium-qualified talents of Annie, Berica, and Dilson, plus Butler, Richard, Wendy, and Sophia, and there are only seven people with better qualifications.

According to the statistics of Haaland's territory, the population with magical qualifications is less than one percent of the total population, the probability of the emergence of medium-qualified apprentices is about one in a thousand, and the probability of high-qualification apprentices, Haaland's territory has detected thousands of children, and the probability is still zero.

Zoom in to the entire Grant Kingdom, the only high-qualified magicians Richard has seen are Senna Walton, the archbishop of the Dawn Church in the Grant Kingdom, and Pansy Grant, the president of the Grant Mage Association.

On the contrary, in Haaland's territory, there are two people with high qualifications, Sophia and Butler. Even the siblings Richard and Wendy, whose magical qualifications are only close to high talent.

Wendy's magic resistance is average, and Richard doesn't have a very good elemental affinity, because of the shortcomings in talent, the two siblings' qualifications are slightly worse than the high magic talent, and a few points more than the average medium talent.

After the third wave of the plague ended, the senior priest of the Dawn Church entered the Harland Territory to investigate the cause of the outbreak.

The investigation team sent by the Church of Dawn, in addition to Richard's acquaintance Dun Legin, also has two high-level magicians.

"Count Richard, Sanchez, you have already met, and you are an old friend who blocked the plane passage together. Delian hails from the headquarters and excels in the use of divination spells. ”

"Dear friend, we haven't seen each other for nine years." Richard shook Sanchez's hand warmly, then opened his arms and hugged Delian.

"Welcome to Haaland, and if there is anything we can't take care of, please forgive us for not being hospitable."

Delian looked more reserved, didn't talk much, exchanged a few words with Richard, and went straight to the point: "Your Excellency the Earl is too polite. I heard that the Earl's magicians have isolated the plague virus, and I need to use divination spells on the virus to trace the source of the plague virus. ”

Richard also had a lot of contact with people with a character like Delian. This kind of person is not good at socializing, and he doesn't care much about people's feelings. It's not that these people are not smart, it's just that they devote their minds to the study of science and magic, and they don't like to bow down to the world.

Delian looks to be in his early forties, already a seven-ring magician, and a rising star at the headquarters of the Dawn Church.

Richard doesn't like flattering people, and the experience of the two lives, combined with more than 60 years of experience, has given Richard enough life experience, and he can be called old and sophisticated when he debuted. Seeing that the people from the Dawn Church went straight to the point, Richard immediately nodded and said, "Please follow me, the first generation of viruses is kept in the Institute of Bacteria and Viruses."

Through the research of medical workers, we found that this year, the plague virus has been iterated for three generations, and now the first generation of the virus is no longer prevalent, and there is basically no outside world. However, because some necromancers in our territory have studied the data, they have preserved the virus by magical means, and according to common sense, the first generation of viruses is closest to the source. If you use a divination spell, you should be able to get more information. ”

Richard took Dun Lekin and the three of them to the heavily guarded Institute of Bacteria and Viruses.

Studying bacteria and viruses is a very dangerous thing, and if you are not careful, it will leak, and the leakage of plague viruses will definitely cause serious accidents. Therefore, the Institute of Bacteria and Viruses was not established in a densely populated area, but in the northern part of the swamp basin, where there was basically no population nearby.

The base camp of the Harland Mage Association was established in the swamp basin, and the virus research institute was located in the north of the swamp basin, more than ten kilometers away from the mage tower, which was convenient for magicians to conduct research.

The Institute of Bacteria and Viruses was built on a mountainside, and the houses of the Institute were almost all made of boulders, which looked very sturdy, and a strict quarantine system was set up inside. Entering and exiting the institute requires strict disinfection, not only with alcohol spray, but also with the use of magic to kill viruses.

On the periphery of the Institute of Bacteria and Viruses, there is also an army in the possession of the intelligence department that is responsible for guarding and prohibiting the entry of outsiders.

Richard took the priest of the Dawn Church into the Virus Research Institute, and it happened that Sophia was studying the virus with the doctors and magicians of Harland's territory.

Haaland's territory has a deep foundation in the study of the plague virus, and the Mage Guild has a large number of necromancer human test materials, and Heath, Butler and others are from the necromancer organization Tower of Death, and know some knowledge of necromancers creating viruses. Combined with the biological knowledge that Richard mastered in his previous life, coupled with the high-powered microscope created by Haraland's territory, he can intuitively observe and study the virus.

With regard to the understanding of bacteria and viruses, Haaland's territory has gone far ahead.

Through research on plague viruses, the Harland Territory is already developing drugs to treat the plague. By purifying, extracting, and boiling various herbal juices for patients, doctors have found that castor extract is the most effective and can treat patients with mild symptoms.

As for the seriously ill, they can only rely on spells.

Plague is a spell that is very resistant to bacteria and viruses, and using this magic, it can be used to treat various viruses such as plague, smallpox, flu, cholera, etc.

Using this spell to cure the plague this time is also very effective. Richard's improved plague healing technique, although not as effective as the elimination of the plague, can also kill a large number of viruses in the patient's body, and combined with the spell that increases vitality, it can also treat seriously ill patients.

This time the epidemic virus is a malaria virus that has been magically modified, and is mainly transmitted through contact. Mosquito bites are also a key factor in the spread of the virus.

After discovering the transmission route of the virus, the Haaland territory immediately took countermeasures, using a large number of mosquito coils, mosquito nets, filling puddles and other methods to reduce the probability of mosquito bites.

"The third generation of viruses has increased transmissibility and weakened virulence. Through our observation and comparison of more than 100 patients, using the extract of castor weed, 96% of the patients can be treated, and the remaining 4% need to use healing spells. ”

Listening to the researcher's report, Sophia decisively said, "Do we have enough castor grass in stock?" ”

Castor is a common herb that has some pain-relieving and anti-inflammatory effects. It has been six years since this herb was discovered in Harland's territory, but the medicinal effect is not particularly outstanding, and it has not been cultivated in large quantities, and the number of reserves is naturally insufficient.

Sophia turned her head and saw Adrian's face with a look of embarrassment, and immediately understood why.

"You have a lot of castor grass printed, and I will arrange for the surplus labor to go to the field to dig the castor grass, and then have the distillery provide a high amount of liquor to make a large number of medicines to cure the plague. Since castor extract has the effect of killing viruses, the planting area should be expanded next year, and the hospital should also arrange manpower to study the efficacy of castor extract to see if this drug can treat other diseases? Counter several viruses. ”

Finding that Richard had brought outsiders to the Institute of Bacteria and Viruses, Sophia immediately stopped and waved her hand away several researchers around her.

Seeing Sophia looking at him suspiciously, Richard suddenly realized that he opened his mouth to introduce several pastors of the Dawn Church to Sophia.

"You have met Bishop Dunlegin before, this gentleman's name is Sanchez, the bishop of the diocese of Nolan, and this friend's name is Derian, from the headquarters of the Church of Dawn, and he is proficient in divination spells. Mr. Delian came here to do a divination to trace the root cause of the first-generation virus. ”

Although Sophia once studied magic in the Magic Kingdom of Makholm and saw far more than Richard and Wendy, there was no magician in the mage tower where she was located.

Divination magic, prophecy magic, and astrology magic are all easy to learn and difficult to master, and this kind of magic is to explore the mystery of cause and effect through the connection between the micro and the macro, and to infer the future blessings and misfortunes through spiritual contact with special objects.

Hearing that Delian was proficient in divination, Sophia immediately became very interested and wanted to see with her own eyes how the magician did divination.

Delian was very gifted in divination magic, and he improved a type of divination magic, creating the seven-ring divination spell that traces back to its origins.

This type of spell is particularly demanding on the divination medium and must be a magical creation. Then analyze the structure of the magical creation, and you can trace it back to the source.

Delian carefully observed the first generation of magic viruses, and his spiritual power continued to be released, turning into a spiritual power enchantment in a blink of an eye, and then hooked the magic runes, releasing the seven-ring magic to trace back to the source.

In an instant, countless images appeared in Delian's mind, and Delian mobilized his mental power to delete the useless pictures, then picked up a pen and paper, and began to draw simple maps.

Looking at the picture on the map, Richard's face suddenly became solemn, he turned to Dun Lekin and asked, "It looks like he is in the county of Martins, the upper reaches of the Kaeya River." ”

The county of Donny Martins is located in the northwestern part of the province of Gascoigne, and Richard led his men to attack the Viscount of Cissé, once passing through the upper reaches of the Kaeya River. He had a very good memory, and even after a long time, he recognized a map as the upper reaches of the Kaeya River.

Dun Lekin had been a missionary in the northern part of the kingdom of Grant and was very familiar with the terrain of the northern provinces. More than twenty years ago, Dunlegin also served as Bishop of Fort Flame, leading a team to explore the source of the Kaeya River.

"It's in the county of Martins, west of the Eagle Mountains, at the source of the Kaeya River. This area has always been the territory of legendary ogres, but I didn't expect the necromancer to hide here? ”

Although the county of Martins is vast, it is not as well developed as the eastern county of the Grotta River, with a population of just over 50,000 on 60,000 square kilometers.

A total of two castles were built on the vast territory, both of which were located in the upper reaches of the Rania River, a tributary of the Black River.

The more than 50,000 people of the Earl of Martins all live near the two castles, and of the 60,000 square kilometers of land, only two castles have been developed a little, and there are some shadows of civilization, and the rest of the land is basically barren. The security of this territory is mainly guarded by the Legion of the Atonement.

If it weren't for King Roger's loan of 300,000 gold coins and the dispatch of the Ransom Legion to help garrison it, this territory would not have been able to defend it at all thanks to the strength of the Martins family.

Due to the low level of development, the county of Martins has few ready-made roads, and the territory is completely dependent on the Lania River for transportation, and is still barely self-sufficient.

The area where the necromancer may be hiding, with no ready-made roads and a lack of supplies along the way, is not suitable for the operation of large armies. To hunt down necromancers, only a small number of elite manpower can be drawn.

After Delian finished divination, Richard said to Dun Legin, "The necromancer's hiding place is very dangerous, only about one hundred and twenty kilometers away from the legendary ogre's base camp. This area is located in the middle of dense mountain forests, and there is only one supply point in Songtao Castle more than 100 kilometers away, so this operation is not suitable for too many people. According to my idea, a maximum of 100 people will be selected. But these 100 people must be elite soldiers, mainly professionals. Even if you encounter a legendary ogre, you have the strength to retreat safely. ”

Deng Lejin nodded and said, "The forces of the Dawn Church in the four northern provinces can all participate in the battle, and about thirty people can be transferred, including one eighth-order priest, one seventh-order magician, two sixth-order magicians, and twenty-six middle- and low-level professionals. The rest of the people can only find the nobles of Northern Xinjiang. ”

Hearing Dun Legin's words, Richard immediately said: "Haaland's territory can also draw thirty people, the territory mage group can draw ten people, and the remaining twenty people are drawn from the demon hunting team, and we can also provide fifty iron wildebeest horses to act as pack beasts for the team." ”

"There is still a gap of forty people, and I am ready to let the Duke of Edward help, they have been fighting legendary ogres for many years and are familiar with the nearby terrain."

Seeing that Dunlegin was preparing to transfer troops from Duke Edward's command, Richard immediately shook his head.

"No, I've dealt with the Ogre Tribe, and I know that the Ogre Tribe has a serious infiltration of the Duke of Edward, and if people are transferred from the Duke of Edward, the news is likely to leak. My opinion is to draw men from the Lions. ”

Dunlegin said: "Okay, I will write to Archbishop Cisse and ask the archbishop to coordinate, and I will do what you want." ”

About ten days after Dun Lekin wrote the letter, it seemed that in late July, the Church of Dawn had reconciled with the Kingdom of Grant, and the Wild Lion Legion had dispatched an elite force of forty men to the source of the Kaia River to defeat the necromancers.

The officer led by the Wild Lion Legion was none other than Richard's third uncle.

(End of chapter)